Between the Northern Isles and Aberdeen a ferry crosses back and forth. On this ferry a life-sized bronze puffin has been making this journey for years. Now, it is being donated to the Scottish Wildlife Trust and is being auctioned off on E-bay to the highest bidder. All proceeds go to help the Scottish Wildlife Trust. Here is the E-bay informational page:

This high quality, limited edition of 30, life-size (27cm/11in) bronze puffin has been on a remarkable journey over the last six months.

Created by wildlife sculptor, Eddie Hallam (www.wildlifesculptures.co.uk/), the puffin (or Amber as it’s affectionately known to reflect the puffin’s conservation status) has spent the winter onboard the Northlink Ferry, MV Hrossey. Sailing between Aberdeen & the Orkney Isles, this was intended to mirror the natural habits of it’s real-life counterparts.

Originally sculpted using a wooden armature and worked up in clay & resin, the puffin’s time at sea has produced a wonderfully unusual, mottled green finish where it’s been spattered and sprayed by the sea water.

This is a fantastic opportunity to own a unique, well travelled puffin, full of character whilst helping to protect Scotland’s wildlife for the future.

DELIVERY INFO:

Delivery will be by Royal Mail Special Delivery (1 working day). Alternatively, the winning bidder may collect it from our offices in Edinburgh or any of the following Scottish Wildlife Trust visitor centres:

• Loch of the Lowes, Dunkeld
• Montrose Basin, Montrose
• Falls of Clyde, New Lanark

For further information on our puffin’s journey, please visit www.swt.org.uk/news/ferry-captain-carries-unusual-adventurer-to-the-winter-seas/

So, what are you waiting for? Go look for more information on the puffin’s journey and/or go bid on it!

The E-bay page is here. The BBC News article is here.

(Photo Source) http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachdavies/4536304212/in/set-72157622464609790/ or by flickr name (camera lass) (Davies Photography) http://www.daviesphotography.webs.com/)

This year has been a good one for the puffins in the Forth Islands off the Scottish coasts near Edinburgh. Tree fallow covered the islands of Craigleith and Fidra obstructing the puffins’ burrows, preventing them from entering where they lay and tend to their eggs. Volunteers have been working hard to clear out all the tree fallow and the numbers look promising so far!

You can read more about it here.

Congratulations to the Forth of Firth Islands for doing what was necessary to help their puffins survive and thrive! =) YAY for volunteers who care! And yay for puffins!

Four little pufflings were found waiting outside a fish and chips restaurant in Edinburgh after losing their way from the shore. This is a common thing in towns with puffin colonies. The little baby puffins have a difficult time navigating their way around.

Read more here.

The pufflings can become disorientated by lights on the Scottish isle

People talented at sewing are being asked to make cotton drawstring bags to help save lost puffin chicks on the remote Scottish isle of St Kilda.

Dozens of the baby birds become disorientated each year by lights from buildings housing ranger staff and end up inland, instead of out to sea.

The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) said rangers would use the bags to rescue the animals and keep them safe.

The pufflings will be then taken to the coast and released back into the water.

Read more…

((Original Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7793919.stm))

Scientists are worried that puffins are getting underweight and dying because they haven’t got enough fish to eat in the North Sea.

The Firth of Forth in Scotland is home to one of the UK’s largest puffin colonies.

But experts who’ve been counting the seabirds there say their numbers have fallen by about a third in five years.

They think climate change could be to blame for the birds not having enough to eat.

Read more…

((Original Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7430000/newsid_7434900/7434966.stm))

When you’ve swooped 300 feet into the cold and murky depths of
the Atlantic for your dinner, you don’t give it up without a
fight.

Even when you’re a tiny puffin and the thieves outnumbering you
are three fiercesome black-headed gulls.

This plucky puffin, smaller than a pigeon, braved an ambush by
his hungry enemies to carry a beak full of tasty sand eels back to
his nest.

It is a scene which takes place every year on the Farne Islands
off the Northumberland coast.

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Puffin (Photograph by DK Bhaskar

Visit puffins (and many other great seabirds) on this travel trip to Scotland.
“More than 75,000 puffins breed on these little islands, along with 30 other species of seabirds. Nearly 160 different species of birds migrate through this passage every year,” said Marsh, carefully guiding us along the wooden pathways.

Farne Islands (BBC photo)

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